This meeting started with a few members absent. Board President Leisa McElreath and Board attorney Jeff Jernigan were absent. Board Vice-President Teresa Whitman was our Master of Ceremony, yes it’s always a show……. Today there were some extra visitors at the Board meeting. I want to give a shot out to the Staff and Students from Hinds CC Utica Campus and Staff from Blue Cliff College Gulfport! It was a pleasure meeting them…. The following was the highlights of this meeting:
Ms. Angela Kitchens from the MS State Department of Education (Office of Career and Technical Programs) was on the agenda to speak with the Board….. This is the office that oversees the Cosmetology Programs that are currently being taught in 3 of the High Schools in the state which is Tunica, Clarksdale, and the most famous of all is the CDC program in Jackson…. Ms. Kitchens started her conversation with the Board in asking them to partner with her to improve the enrollment, retention rate, and the licensure rate for these three programs. Vice-President Teresa Whitman was all smiles and eagerly listening to Ms. Kitchens spill… I just could not take it…. I had clear my throat and under my breath state “CDC is the program that does not have test books for their students!!!!!”…… Bottom line is that these programs are a joke we.. “our tax dollars” …spend good money funding these programs that have “0” completion rates… And the sad thing is that these young individuals would have probably taken the Cosmetology program once they graduated High School but now due to the little to nothing education they get about Cosmetology in these High School programs they just drop by the way side…. Ms. Kitchen did tell the Board that she could not make the schools follow the Boards rules and regulations however she would greatly appreciate it if the Board would take the proper actions to ensure that these schools were made to come in compliance with the Boards rules and regulations…… Hello, could she have slapped the Board any harder in their face???? This lady made an appointment with the Board to ask them to do THEIR job!!!!!
School Workshop/Seminar will be held Sunday January 25, 2015. All schools will be receiving a Save The Date invitation letting you know about this upcoming event….. THIS WILL NOT BE ABOUT THE NEW TESTING!!!!!!!! Executive Director Cynthia Johnson stated that this workshop will be about Board office policy and procedures and rules and regulations of the Board. This workshop is for those schools who do not know the who, what, when, where and why about the paperwork that needs to be sent to the Board office….. Apparently there are a lot of schools out there that are having problems with sending the proper documentations into the Board office which is causing a lot of problems….
I expressed to the Board that everyone is wanting to know about our new testing but was quickly SHUT DOWN by Executive Director Cynthia Johnson… She stated that any information that would be given out about the testing would come from “PCS” NOT the Board and “PCS” has not given them a date as to when that would happen…. ONCE AGAIN THIS MEETING WILL NOT BE ABOUT THE NEW TESTING!!!!!!! I will keep you posted on that meeting as soon as I find out a date…..
Executive Director Cynthia Johnson stated that the Contract with “PCS” was signed 12-10-14.. However, there is still going to be some time before that contact will be executed… Basically we are now in the hands of PCS and everything for this point will go through PCS…. This was also made clear when Ms. Gina Quinn from Blue Cliff College, asked the Board if it was true that there was only going to be one test site and Kay Whitman replied I don’t know that would be up to the testing company……. Executive Director Cynthia Johnson also stated that the contract is on the Web for all of us to see at www.transparency.ms.gov but I could not find it. Under the Cosmetology Board Agency there is 36 contracts listed but none are with Pearson Vue or PCS… Just another smoke screen…..
This is my last blog for 2014…. I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and the Happiest of New Years and together we are going to make 2015 a much better year for our INDUSTRY….
5 Comment(s)
Thanks Melvin for all that you do. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and your family.
The first part of the synopsis of the Board meeting is such a joke that I won’t even acknowledge it……I agree that it’s more fraudulent use of “OUR tax dollars” at work and absolutely ridiculous. These high school programs have been proven over and over to be unsuccessful.
As far as Cynthia Johnson’s complaint about schools not submitting documentation correctly, what about what has happened to the mountains of documentation that Chris’ Beauty College (and I am sure many other schools) has submitted correctly and on a timely basis for years and years and years???? It wasn’t until the last few years that we’ve been accused of not submitting paperwork timely and correctly, so much so that we started sending everything Certified Mail, Return Receipt Requested with a backup list of everything included in the package that Board signed for. THEY are the ridiculous mess. Just this month, we’ve had emails from them asking for entire files of students that they have issued permits and letters of approval granting permission to test – now, maybe I’m an idiot, but how in the world did they issue permits and letters without having any documentation?!?!?! We’ve had TWO nail students actually arrive to test that were given the COSMETOLOGY exam because the rosters submitted to Pearson Vue listed them as Cosmetology exams instead of Nail exams – then we receive a report that shows the students FAILED the exam!!!! The next week, we had a student show up to test with his letter issued by Cynthia Johnson that HAD AN EXPIRATION DATE LISTED AS THE SAME DATE THAT THE LETTER WAS ISSUED!!!! And guess what – he wasn’t allowed to test either!!!! I immediately sent emails to Board requesting that they issue him another letter and fed ex it to him since it was OBVIOUSLY their fault – as of today, NO answer whatsoever. In addition, somehow the students’ passport pictures seem to be getting separated from their applications and LOST AT BOARD and they call us requesting duplicates!!!! Maybe the employees of the Board office could use a WORKSHOP on how to properly do their jobs instead of making false allegations to cover up their own incompetence.
And maybe I’m crazy or a little paranoid but we’ve had SO much documentation that was “lost at Board” or they said was “never received”, I think that there’s some sabotage that may be going on…..especially by a particular Board employee who is no longer employed there. It sure seems like so much of the chaos started with her employment…..oops, did I just say that!!!! YES, BECAUSE I’M SICK AND TIRED OF IT ALL. I’ve never seen such idiocracy from people who call themselves professionals and point fingers at the very ones who employ them – I’m very ticked off about their incompetence and the cover-ups that are occurring….so much damage being done to our schools, students, graduates and salons.
I never dreamed that our industry would feel that the MSBC was a JOKE……but here it is. God help us……
In regards to Ms. Angela Kitchens asking for assistance from the board to hold the schools accountable for Board rules and regulations, the board replied they they would hold them accountable at there ONCE A YEAR inspection. How can this board so blatantly ignore the fact that these schools are out of compliance, and not even attempt to make an extra visit or two to the schools? I was very fortunate in high school. I participated in a program like this through my Texas high school. I was a licensed cosmetologist by the time I was 18 years old. I realize that I am one of the VERY RARE few that actually finished and am still in the industry. With this being said, I know first hand the impact programs like these can have on our youth if they are administered properly. I am heartbroken right now that these kids are not being given a fair chance with this. I am curious to see how it plays out.
I see a train wreck coming. Wasn’t Kay Whitman on the evaluation committee? I thought I read that somewhere! She didn’t know about which testing site? Sounds a a crock to me. Those folks down there don’t know anything about anything. They give you the run around every time you have a question. Some not all are an embarrassment to our state or some are just plain stupid. Somebody somewhere would give me some answers.
Sounds like they need to close these high school programs! No books? No wonder they are not taking the test nor passing. Another idea: Fire the head of the CDC’ and the other 2.